The Mabinogion (Oxford World's Classics) (38 page)

They came to where the Owl of Cwm Cawlwyd
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was.

‘Owl of Cwm Cawlwyd, here are Arthur’s messengers. Do you know anything of Mabon son of Modron, who was taken when three nights old from his mother?’

‘If I knew anything, I would say. When I first came here the large valley that you see was a wooded glen, and a race of men came there, and it was destroyed. And the second wood grew in it, and this wood is the third. And as for me, the roots of my wings are mere stumps. From that day to this I have heard nothing about the man you are asking after. However, I shall be a guide to Arthur’s messengers until you come to the oldest animal in this world, and the one who has wandered most—the Eagle of Gwernabwy.’
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Gwrhyr said, ‘Eagle of Gwernabwy, we have come to you— Arthur’s messengers—to ask if you know anything of Mabon son of Modron who was taken when three nights old from his mother?’

Gwrhyr said, ‘Eagle of Gwernabwy, we have come to you— Arthur’s messengers—to ask if you know anything of Mabon son of Modron who was taken when three nights old from his mother?’

The Eagle said, ‘I came here a long time ago, and when I first came here I had a rock, and from its top I would peck at the stars every evening. Now it’s not a hand-breadth in height. From that day to this I have been here, and I have heard nothing about the man you’re asking after. But once I went to seek my food as far as Llyn Lliw,
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and when I got there I sunk my claws into a salmon, thinking that he would be food for me for a long time, and he pulled me down into the depths, so that I barely got away from him. What I did, I and all my kinsmen, was to set upon him and try to destroy him. He sent messengers to make peace with me, and he himself came to me, to have fifty tridents taken out of his back. Unless he knows something about what you are seeking, I do not know anyone who might. However, I shall be your guide to where he is.’

They came to where he was.

The Eagle said, ‘Salmon of Llyn Lliw, I have come to you with Arthur’s messengers to ask if you know anything of Mabon son of Modron, who was taken when three nights old from his mother?’

‘As much as I know, I will tell. With every flood tide I travel up
the river until I come to the bend in the wall of Caerloyw; never before in my life have I found as much wickedness as I found there. And so that you will believe me, let one of you come here on my two shoulders.’

The ones who went on the Salmon’s shoulders were Cai and Gwrhyr Gwalstawd Ieithoedd. And they travelled until they came to the other side of the wall from the prisoner, and they could hear lamenting and moaning on the other side of the wall from them.

Gwrhyr said, ‘Who is lamenting in this house of stone?’

‘Alas sir, he who is here has reason to lament. It is Mabon son of Modron who is imprisoned here, and no one has been so painfully incarcerated in a prison as I, neither the prison of Lludd Llaw Eraint nor the prison of Graid son of Eri.’
*

‘Do you have any hope of being released for gold or silver or worldly wealth, or through battle and fighting?’

‘What you get of me, will be got by fighting.’

They returned from there and came to where Arthur was. They reported where Mabon son of Modron was in prison. Arthur summoned the warriors of this Island and went to Caerloyw where Mabon was in prison. Cai and Bedwyr went on the shoulders of the fish. While Arthur’s warriors were attacking the fort, Cai tore through the wall and took the prisoner on his back, and fought the men as before. Arthur came home and Mabon with him, a free man.

Arthur said, ‘Which of those wonders is it now best to seek first?’

‘It is best to seek the two whelps of the bitch Rhymhi.’

‘Does anyone know’, said Arthur, ‘where she is?’

‘She is’, said one, ‘at Aber Daugleddyf.’
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Arthur came to the house of Tringad
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in Aber Cleddyf and asked him, ‘Have you heard about her here? In what form is she?’

‘In the form of a she-wolf,’ he said, ‘and she goes around with her two whelps. She has killed my livestock many times, and she is down below in Aber Cleddyf in a cave.’

What Arthur did was to set off by sea in Prydwen,
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his ship, and others by land, to hunt the bitch, and in this way they surrounded her and her two whelps. And God changed them back into their own shape for Arthur.
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Arthur’s host dispersed, one by one, two by two.

And one day, as Gwythyr son of Greidol was travelling over a mountain, he could hear weeping and woeful wailing, and it was terrible to hear. He rushed forward in that direction, and as he came there he unsheathed his sword and cut off the anthill at ground level, and so saved them from the fire.

And they said to him, ‘Take with you God’s blessing and ours, and that which no man can recover, we will come and recover it for you.’

It was they, after that, who brought the nine hestors of flax seed that Ysbaddaden Bencawr had demanded of Culhwch, in full measure, with none missing except for a single flax seed, but the lame ant brought that before nightfall.

As Cai and Bedwyr were sitting on top of Pumlumon on Garn Gwylathr,
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in the strongest wind in the world, they looked around them and they could see a lot of smoke towards the south, far away from them, unmoved by the wind.

And then Cai said, ‘By the hand of my friend, look over there— the fire of a warrior.’

They hastened towards the smoke and approached the place, watching from afar, as Dillus Farfog roasted a wild boar. He, without doubt, was the greatest warrior who had ever fled from Arthur.

Then Bedwyr said to Cai, ‘Do you know him?’

‘I do,’ said Cai. ‘That’s Dillus Farfog. There is no leash in the world that can hold Drudwyn, the whelp of Graid son of Eri, except a leash made from the beard of the man you see over there.
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And it won’t be of any use either unless it’s plucked with wooden tweezers from his beard while he’s still alive, for it will be brittle if he’s dead.’

‘What shall we do about it?’ said Bedwyr.

‘We will leave him’, said Cai, ‘to eat his fill of the meat, and after that he will fall asleep.’

While he was doing just that they made wooden tweezers. When Cai knew for sure that he was asleep he dug a pit under his feet, the biggest in the world, and he struck him an almighty blow, and pressed him down in the pit until they had plucked out his beard completely with the wooden tweezers. And after that they killed him outright. And from there both went to Celli Wig in Cornwall, and with them a leash from the beard of Dillus Farfog, and Cai handed it to Arthur. And then Arthur sang this
englyn
:

A leash was made by Cai

From the beard of Dillus son of Efrai.

Were he alive, he would kill you.
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And because of that Cai sulked, so that the warriors of this island could hardly make peace between Cai and Arthur. And yet neither Arthur’s misfortune nor the killing of his men could induce Cai to have anything to do with him in his hour of need from then on.

And then Arthur said, ‘Which of those wonders is it best to seek now?’

‘It is best to seek Drudwyn the whelp of Graid son of Eri.’

A little while before that Creiddylad daughter of Lludd Llaw Eraint
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went off with Gwythyr son of Greidol, but before he could sleep with her Gwyn son of Nudd came and took her by force. Gwythyr son of Greidol gathered a host, and came to fight against Gwyn son of Nudd, and Gwyn triumphed, and captured Graid son of Eri, and Glinneu son of Taran,
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and Gwrgwst Ledlwm and Dyfnarth his son. And he captured Pen son of Nethog, and Nwython,
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and Cyledyr Wyllt
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his son, and he killed Nwython and cut out his heart, and forced Cyledyr to eat his father’s heart, and because of that Cyledyr went mad. Arthur heard of this and came to the North, and summoned Gwyn son of Nudd to him, and released his noblemen from his prison, and made peace between Gwyn son of Nudd and Gwythyr son of Greidol. This is the agreement that was made: the maiden was to be left in her father’s house, untouched by either party, and there was to be battle between Gwyn and Gwythyr every May day
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forever from that day forth until Judgement Day, and the one that triumphed on Judgement Day would take the maiden.

And after reconciling those noblemen in that way, Arthur obtained Myngddwn steed of Gweddw, and the leash of Cors Cant Ewin.

After that Arthur went to Brittany, and Mabon son of Mellt
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with him, and Gware Gwallt Euryn, to seek the two dogs of Glythfyr Ledewig.
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After he had got them Arthur went to the west of Ireland to seek Gwrgi Seferi,
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and Odgar son of Aedd, king of Ireland, with him. And then Arthur went to the North,
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and caught Cyledyr Wyllt, and he went after Ysgithrwyn Pen Baedd. And Mabon son of Mellt went holding the two dogs of Glythfyr Ledewig, and Drudwyn, the
whelp of Graid son of Eri. And Arthur himself went on the chase, holding Cafall, Arthur’s dog. And Caw of Prydyn mounted Llamrei, Arthur’s mare,
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and held the boar at bay. And then Caw of Prydyn armed himself with a small axe, and with fierce vigour set upon the boar, and split his head in two. And Caw took the tusk. It was not the dogs that Ysbaddaden had demanded of Culhwch that killed the boar but Cafall, Arthur’s own dog.

And after killing Ysgithrwyn Pen Baedd, Arthur and his retinue went to Celli Wig in Cornwall. And from there he sent Menw son of Teirgwaedd to see whether the treasures were between the ears of Twrch Trwyth, because it would be pointless to go to fight with him unless he had the treasures. It was certain, however, that he was there. He had destroyed one-third of Ireland. Menw went to look for them. He saw them at Esgair Oerfel in Ireland. And Menw turned himself into a bird, and settled above his lair, and tried to snatch one of the treasures from him. But indeed he got nothing except one of his bristles. The boar got up in full fury, and shook himself so that some of the poison caught him. And from then on Menw was never without affliction.

After that Arthur sent a messenger to Odgar son of Aedd, king of Ireland, to ask for the cauldron of Diwrnach Wyddel, one of his stewards. Odgar asked him to hand it over.

Diwrnach said, ‘God knows, even if he were the better for getting just one look at it, he would not even get that.’ And Arthur’s messenger came with a ‘no’ from Ireland.

Arthur set off with a small force and sailed in his ship Prydwen, and came to Ireland, and they made for the house of Diwrnach Wyddel. Odgar’s retinue took note of their size, and when they had eaten and drunk their fill, Arthur asked for the cauldron. Diwrnach said that if he were to give it to anyone, he would have given it at the request of Odgar king of Ireland. Having been told ‘no’, Bedwyr got up and took hold of the cauldron and put it on the back of Hygwydd, Arthur’s servant (he was a brother by the same mother to Cacamwri, Arthur’s servant). His duty was always to carry Arthur’s cauldron and to light a fire under it. Llenlleog Wyddel grabbed Caledfwlch and swung it round, and killed Diwrnach Wyddel and all his retinue. The hosts of Ireland came to fight them. And when all the hosts had
fled, Arthur and his men boarded the ship before their very eyes, and the cauldron with them, full of Irish treasure. And they landed at the house of Llwydeu son of Cilcoed at Porth Cerddin in Dyfed. And Mesur y Pair is there.
*

And then Arthur gathered together every warrior in the Three Islands of Britain and her Three Adjacent Islands, and in France, and Brittany, and Normandy, and Gwlad yr Haf,
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and every choice hound and celebrated steed. And he went with all those hosts to Ireland, and there was great fear and trembling because of him in Ireland. And when Arthur had landed, the saints of Ireland came to him to ask for protection. And he gave them protection, and they gave him their blessing. The men of Ireland came to Arthur and gave him a tribute of food.
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Arthur came to Esgair Oerfel in Ireland, where Twrch Trwyth was, with his seven little pigs.
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Hounds were let loose on him from all directions. That day until evening the Irish fought against him. In spite of that, he laid waste a fifth of Ireland.
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And the following day Arthur’s retinue fought against Twrch Trwyth; he did them only harm, he did them no good. The third day Arthur himself fought against him, for nine nights and nine days. He only killed a single piglet. The men asked Arthur what was the history of that swine.

He said, ‘He was a king, and for his sins God changed him into a swine.’

Arthur sent Gwrhyr Gwalstawd Ieithoedd to try and talk to Twrch Trwyth. Gwrhyr went in the shape of a bird, and settled above the lair of the boar and his seven little pigs.

And Gwrhyr Gwalstawd Ieithoedd asked him, ‘For the sake of Him who shaped you in this image, if you can speak, I’m asking one of you to come and talk to Arthur.’

Grugyn Gwrych Eraint
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answered; all his bristles were like wings of silver, and one could see the path he took through woods and over fields by the way his bristles glittered. This is the answer Grugyn gave, ‘By Him who shaped us in this image, we will not do and we will not say anything to help Arthur. God has done us enough harm by shaping us in this image, without you too coming to fight against us.’

‘I tell you that Arthur will fight for the comb and the razor and the shears that are between the ears of Twrch Trwyth.’

Grugyn said, ‘Until his life is taken first, those treasures will not be taken. And tomorrow morning we will set off from here, and we will go to Arthur’s land, and there we will wreak the greatest havoc possible.’

They set off over the sea towards Wales, and Arthur and his men and his steeds and his hounds went in Prydwen, and they caught a glimpse of Twrch Trwyth and his pigs briefly. Twrch Trwyth landed in Porth Clais in Dyfed. Arthur went as far as Mynyw that night.
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The next day Arthur was told that Twrch Trwyth had passed by, and he caught up with him killing the cattle of Cynwas Cwryfagyl after he had killed all the men and beasts there were in Daugleddyf before Arthur arrived. From the moment Arthur arrived, Twrch Trwyth set out from there as far as Preseli. Arthur and the forces of the world came there. Arthur sent his men to the hunt, holding Eli and Trachymyr and Drudwyn, the whelp of Graid son of Eri, while Gwarthegydd son of Caw was on another flank, holding the two dogs of Glythfyr Ledewig, and Bedwyr holding Cafall, Arthur’s dog. And Arthur arranged all the warriors on the two banks of the Nyfer. The three sons of Cleddyf Difwlch arrived, men who had received great praise killing Ysgithrwyn Pen Baedd. And then Twrch Trwyth set off from Glyn Nyfer, and came to Cwm Cerwyn,
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and there he stood at bay. And then he killed four of Arthur’s champions, Gwarthegydd son of Caw, and Tarog Allt Clwyd,
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and Rheiddwn son of Beli Adfer, and Isgofan Hael. And after killing those men he stood at bay a second time in the same place, and killed Gwydre son of Arthur, and Garselyd Wyddel, and Glew son of Ysgod, and Isgawyn son of Panon. And then he himself was wounded.